Wednesday, March 25, 2015

The night before his up-set election, Netanyahu vowed that there
would never be a Palestinian state on his watch. The day after his election, he said that he
was committed to a two state solution.
What is amazing is that he is having difficulty understanding how anyone
can see these statements as contradictory.
“My position has always been the same.”
In Israel,
the Prime Minister, as long as the people vote for him, is the law and whatever
he says is the truth.

Nahum Barnea, columnist for Yediot Ahronot, wrote:

Netanyahu’s
promises are like something written on ice on a very hot day”[1]

I wish Netanyahu would
backtrack… about sixty years or so and establish a Constitution for Israel
to protect all its citizens. However, until that happens, he is free to shoot
from the hip. He has run Israel for
about ten years now and I can think of many ways he could backtrack with
dignity.

I wish he could pull the bombs he dropped on the defenseless
people of Gaza
back up into his planes. Just this week,
on Meet the Press, Ron Dermer, Israeli Ambassador to the U.S., referred to the ineffective, crude rockets
Hamas fired into southern Israel.
At the same time, he failed to complete the picture and mention the 800 tons of bombs Israel dropped on
Gaza, killing thousands of people, including 500 children, and causing such
destruction that Oxfam says will take a hundred years to rebuild. Yet according to Ron Dermer, Netanyahu is
committed to peace and Hamas is nothing more than a terrorist organization.

I wish Netanyahu could suck back up the white phosphorous
bombs which burned to the bone causing uncontrollable agony to anyone unlucky
enough to come in contact with this gas. Its use is condemned by
international law. When the planes came, as they did for 20 days last summer,
children looked up with absolute terror in their eyes. Yet, according to Israel and the US
media, the Palestinians, not Israel,
are the terrorist.

I wish Netanyahu could backtrack and restore the arms and
legs of the victims of his his slaughter of Gaza, offer medical care for the more than
11,000 injured and the more that 1000 children permanently disabled. And rebuild the schools, hospitals and power
plants and the tens of thousands of homes he destroyed in Palestine. And rebuild the economy his
policies have wrecked by blocking imports and exports to and from the occupied territories. I wish he could bring back the life of the
fisherman his gunboats killed last week who was fishing within the “allowed” six
mile limit Israel
imposed upon those seeking food for their families. However, Netanyahu “put 1.8 million Gazans on a diet.” According
to the UNRWA, 1.5 million Palestinians are food insecure because of Israel’s
blockade at the entrance gates.

Yes, I wish Benjamin Netanyahu could wash the blood off of
his hands.

The world press is accusing him of back tracking. But, unfortunately,
he is not backtracking in anyway that could make a difference. He is the same Netanyahu who can do anything
he wants to do and say anything he wants to say because according to him, and
most of the members of the US Congress, he is the only game in town. Add to that, the support of fifty million
Christian Zionists who preach that Israel
is God’s chosen people and right away, Israel gets a pass, no matter what
it does. Even worse, Netanyahu himself actually believes he is “special,” above
accountability to international law, human decency, or to God.

While Israel
gets money, legitimacy and protection because of our “special relationship,”
the question is: what do we, the people of the US, get?

We get to bury 34 sailors serving on the USS Liberty in
1967, killed by Israel.
Of course, Israel
backtracked the next day, claiming that it was a “mistake.” Admiral Thomas Moorer, Chair of the Joint
Chief of Staff, said, “I will never buy the idea that the pilots did not know
this was an American ship. The attack was deliberate.” Our Congress has yet to demanded an
investigation.

We get to honor the life of a 23 year old American girl
crushed to death by an Israeli bulldozer as she stood up to protest the
demolition of a Palestinian's home.
Our congress has never demanded an investigation and that was twelve
years ago.

We get to have an American humanitarian worker refused entrance
into Israel.
Without any explanation, a U.S.
citizen, at great inconvenience and personal financial cost, is denied the right to enter Israel in spite
of our “special relationship.”

.

Perhaps it is we, the people of the United States,
and not Netanyahu, who should backtrack.

Friday, March 6, 2015

September 2, 2002, a year
and a day after the 9/11 attack, Benjamin Netanyahu stood before our congress
and said, “There is no question whatsoever that Saddam is seeking and working
and advancing toward the development of nuclear weapons --- no question
whatsoever. Saddam is hell bent upon achieving atomic bomb capabilities as soon
as he can. I believe that even free and unfettered inspections will not uncover
these portable manufacturing sites of mass destruction “

Representative Dan Burton summarized, “Your statement boils down to one thing,
that is, do we react to another attack on America after hundreds of thousands
or millions of lives have been lost or do we preempt that kind of action from
happening in the first place?”

Rachel Maddow says, “Which is what we did. We preempted. We
invaded Iraq
and none of the things said about Saddam Hussein turned out to be true.”

In 2002 congress invited Benjamin Netanyahu to speak as an
expert witness, an expert on why the US
had to start a preemptive war against Saddam Hussein and Iraq, or, as he explained, it would
be the end of the world. That was 2002.

Now, in 2015, house republicans invited him back to make a
case again about the end of the world. This time though, he sees it coming from
Iran. “That deal will not prevent Iran from
developing nuclear weapons. It would almost guarantee that Iran gets those
weapons. Iran
could have the means to deliver that nuclear arsenal to the far corners of the
earth including every part of the United States. The Middle East would soon be crisscrossed
by nuclear trip wires, a region where small skirmishes can trigger big wars, would
turn into a nuclear tinder box, would face a much more dangerous Iran. The Middle East
littered with nuclear bombs in a count down to a potential nuclear nightmare.”[1]

While our congress pledges allegiance to the head of another
state, those of us who are less intimidated by AIPAC wonder how he can keep a
straight face. He screams bloody murder
because Iran could someday
get a nuclear weapon while all along knowing Israel
built nuclear bombs, has refused to become a party to the
Treaty of Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, and has never opened
its sites to inspectors. Netanyahu brags
that for the first time in history, Israel has the means of defending
itself. What he means is that for the
first time in history, Israel
has the power to annihilate other people.

John F. Kennedy said that Israel
with a bomb would initiate a nuclear arms race in the Middle
East. So, Israel
lied to the whole world about it, including the United States,.

According to non-Israeli sources,
simulated control rooms were built, the entrances to underground levels were
bricked up, and pigeon droppings were scattered around some buildings in which
the forbidden installations were housed to give the impression that they were
not in use.[2]

No wonder Netanyahu is panicked. For its whole life, modern Israel has been
the bully of its neighborhood. But its
hegemony in the Middle East is coming to an
end and he knows it. Sooner or later, a hostile
nation will “get the bomb.” Then another.
Israel pressured our
Congress into destroying Iraq.
Now, twelve years later, wearing his paranoia like a badge of honor, Netanyahu
demands that the US go to
war with Iran. And our congress applauded.

With a straight face, Netanyahu said, “We need to stop the
aggression in the Middle East.” Then, he
referred to the goons in Gaza, the lackeys in Lebanon and the revolutionary guards on the
Golan Heights as, “clutching Israel
with tentacles of terror.” Does he
think that anyone with even the intelligence of congress would not recognize Gaza, Lebanon
and the Golan Heights as three lands Israel illegally invaded in its
program of expansion?

It is amazing that he would even mention Gaza. Eight years of siege and three
bombardments in six years has left Gaza
destitute. Last summer, Israel
dropped 800 tons of explosives,
including phosphorous cluster bombs on 750 locations, killing 2,100 people, mostly
civilians including 500 children. Israel
destroyed 18,000 homes in Gaza,
leaving 24,000 displaced, deliberately targeted hospitals, schools, and old age
nursing homes. When winter came, Netanyahu cut off electricity and blockaded
fuel. As he spoke to our congress, children were still sick and without medical
care. Some have frozen to death. Yet, Netanyahu
portrays Israel
as the victim, and he does it with a straight face.

Palestinians are the occupied. Israel is the
occupier. An occupier does not defend itself against an occupied population.
The occupier controls the power structure. The occupier is the dominant force
militarily and economically. The occupier determines what goes in and what
comes out of the territories it occupies.
Even under international law, an occupier must provide security for the
people it occupies. Yet, we consistently hear about Israel’s need to ensure its
security.[3]

Netanyahu said that we must, "stop Iran’s conquest, subjugation and
terror." And he said it with a straight face. Then he adds, "if Iran wants to be treated like a
normal country, then let it act like a normal country." Was he looking in a mirror?

Under Netanyahu’s leadership, the
Israeli government has ramped up illegal settlement buildings, increasing the
population of Jewish settlers by over 23%, made the biggest land grab in a
generation, committed countless human rights abuses and killed thousands of
citizens in the West Bank and Gaza,
and done everything possible to maintain the status quo of Israeli occupation
and domination.[4]

It’s time for those of us who yearn for a peaceful world to
say with a straight face to Netanyahu and Israel, “If Israel wants to be
treated like a normal country, then let it act like a normal country.”

Thomas Are

March 6, 2015

[1] Both of
these quotes, 2002 and 2015 are a matter of public record. I lifted them from the Rachel Maddow, Program March 3, 2015..

Sunday, March 1, 2015

Even Bibi can’t have it both ways. On the one hand, he appeals to Jews all over
the world, especially Europe, saying come to Israel, it is the only place on the
globe where a Jew can be safe.

Then, he turns around and addresses our US congress declaring that Israel and all its citizens are on the verge of
being wiped off the face of the earth by Iran. For two decades now, Netanyahu has declared Iran about one year from getting “the bomb,”
which will immediately be dropped on Israel.

So, is Israel
a safe place or not? Even Bibi can’t have it both ways.

I am inclined to think Israel
is not a safe place, but not because of threats from Iran. It is because of Gaza, West Bank and the US. The international conscience for justice and
fair play will someday turn against Israel.

GAZA – Israel’s latest bombardment of Gaza which left over
2,100 Palestinians dead, including over 500 children, and destroyed thousands
of buildings, including schools, mosques, power plants and water supplies, will
not be forgotten anytime soon by those who suffer from it or those who have
seen it.

Oxfam published on February 27, 2015 concerning the
conditions in Gaza:

Since July, the situation has
deteriorated dramatically. Approximately 100,000 Palestinians remain displaced
this winter, living in dire conditions in schools and makeshift shelters not
designed for long-term stay. Scheduled power cuts persist for up to 18 hours a
day… With severe restrictions on movement, most of the 1.8 million residents
are trapped in the coastal enclave, with no hope for the future.

Bearing the brunt of this suffering
are the most vulnerable, including the elderly, persons with disabilities,
women and nearly one million children, who have experienced unimaginable suffering
in three major conflicts in six short years.

Catherine Essoyan, Oxfam’s Regional Director said:

Families have been living in homes
without roofs, walls or windows for the past six months. Many have just six
hours of electricity a day and are without running water. Every day that people
are unable to build is putting more lives at risk. It is utterly deplorable.[1]

Strip away my dignity, call me an animal and treat me as
such, as Israel has done to
the people of Gaza
for 67 years, give me the opportunity and I will hit back. Israel has a lot of making up to do
if it is to ever feel safe.

WEST BANK - Though the focus of attention has been on Gaza since last year’s massacre by Israel, life in the West
Bank continues under Israeli harassment. In 2014, Israel
demolished 1,177 Palestinian homes in West Bank,
an average of nine Palestinian buildings per week.[2] In
January, alone, Israel
destroyed 77 buildings, leaving 110 people, half of whom were children,
homeless in the frigid cold of winter. When a home is destroyed, Israel declares
the area abandoned and confiscates it for Jewish only homes, roads, checkpoints
or to make room for their apartheid wall. Israel talks of a “Two-State
Solution,” if the Palestinians would just be reasonable, all the while pushing them
off their land in West Bank back onto less than 39% of the least desirable land
for agriculture, while systemically cutting off water and electricity.

According to the United Nations, last year, Israel killed 54 Palestinians in the West Bank and injured 5,866 others, including 1,187
children. The average home invasion for
search and arrest was 98. There were 330 incidents of Israeli settler-related
violence including the destruction of 9,400 trees.[3]

US - Of course, Israel
could never keep its boot on the Palestinian neck were it not for the support
and encouragement of the United
States.
As I write this, there is much talk in the media about the strained
relationship between Israel
and the US
because Netanyahu is scheduled to speak to congress in a few days. I am sure the view from Palestine blurs when trying to see the
rift. When the Palestinian Authority
appealed to the UN for help, Obama’s UN ambassador, Samantha Powers called it
“deeply imbalanced.” And when Mahmoud Abbas speaks of going to the
International Criminal Court, the US said it would “damage the
atmosphere.” Ali Abunimah claims that
the atmosphere is already severely damaged:

I challenge Ms. Powers to go and
repeat her words to any of the 100,000 Palestinians in Gaza still living in the damp and freezing
rubble of their homes, to the surviving parents of more than 500 children
killed in the Israeli attack or to the thousands who will live with lifetime
injuries. … Few Palestinians will forget that when Israeli fire was raining
down on them, the Obama administration authorized the transfer of grenades and
mortar rounds to resupply the Israeli army.[4]

And what does the US government have to say about all
this? Only that Israel has a
right to defend itself. No matter what Israel does, our US government supports it and every
Palestinian knows it.

Mike Coogan may help us to understand why such blind support
by the US:

“You see this napkin? In
twenty-four hours, we could have the signatures of seventy senators on the napkin.” These are the words of Stephen Rosen,
official of AIPAC, describing the power of the pro-Israel lobby... Four years
earlier, while boasting about his bad faith implementation of the Oslo Accords
to a group of Israeli settlers, Benjamin Netanyahu said, “America is a thing you can move
very easily.”[5]

So, as Netanyahu comes to address our Congress as to why he
thinks we ought to go to war against Iran
for the safety of Israel, our
US
media is baffled to understand why the Palestinians just can’t make peace.

Ben Gurion understood why years ago:

Why should the Arabs make peace? If
I was an Arab leader I would never make terms with Israel. That is natural: we have
taken their country. Sure, God promised it to us, but what does it matter to
them? Our God is not theirs. We come from Israel, it’s true, but two thousand
years ago, and what is that to them? There has been anti-Semitism, the Nazis,
Hitler, Auschwitz, but was that their fault?
They only see one thing. We have come
here and stolen their country. Why should they accept that?

And Ben Gurion knew nothing of the history above. All he knew
was the Nakba of 1948. But, he also knew what Bibi Netanyahu seems to not understand. Israel can strive to be a good neighbor, or Israel can be
at war until it is destroyed as a Zionist state. But, he can’t have it both
ways.

Thomas Are

March 1, 2015

[1] Andrea
Gemanos, Gaza
Rebuilt Effort Could Take 100 Years: Oxfam, Published by Common Dreams,
February 27, 2015

Thomas L. Are

I preached for forty three years in the Presbyterian Church before retiring. If anyone would ever refer to me as a Liberation Theologian, I would be pleased. I started blogging several years ago to express my political and religious concern for justice, especially justice for the Palestinians.